We ought to do something about this…

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Pictured: Trophy hunters and their local trackers and guides beaming over the body of a dead water buffalo.

This website promotes and provides a comprehensive program for hunting game in the jungles of Mindoro, Philippines. They invite trophy hunters from all over the world to “collect some of these unique [read: endangered] Asian species”:

• Native Asian Water Buffalo
• Asian Dwarf Forest Buffalo (Philippine Salt Buffalo)
• Asian Wild Boar
• Philippine Bearded Warty Pig
• Black Philippine Jungle Cat
• Large Palm Civet and Small Palm Civet Cats
• Asian Sambar Deer
• Mouse Deer
• Saltwater Crocodile

I looked up some of these “species/sub-species” online, and though I didn’t get exact matches to exotic-sounding strings of adjective combos like “Asian Dwarf Forest Buffalo / Philippine Salt Buffalo” or “Philippine Bearded Warty Pig,” it’s pretty obvious that they’re referring to the Mindoro Dwarf Buffalo (common name TAMARAW) and the Mindoro Warty Pig, respectively. In fact, among the many pictures on their website, you can find:

and

They’ve said it themselves: these are “native species you simply cannot hunt anywhere else in the world today.” Both the Tamaraw and Warty Pig are endemic to Mindoro — and they’re endangered, like most of the other species on that “trophy list.” The Philippine Mouse-deer, the wild water buffalo, most species of wild pigs, the Philippine Deer (sometimes called the “Samban deer”) — all endangered. There’s also the critically endangered Mindoro crocodile, a freshwater species. The hunting program offers only its “saltwater” cousin as game (if we were to believe them, that is) — but according to this study, and even the Wikipedia page, the saltwater species is a “very small, ‘at risk’ population” in the Philippines.

The whole operation claims to be “working with the Philippine government to issue export permits for this species under a trophy hunting program.” They even have a “Seaside Safari Base Camp” — “beachfront cottages with air-conditioning, TV and private amenities in individual rooms.” They provide the “outfitter/professional hunter” with “local trackers and porters,” guides, vehicles, licenses, and — from the looks of it — anything, everything, they would ever need.

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Now, is it just me — or is hunting endangered animals supposed to be, say … illegal?